Bo & Dax - A Kitten And A Pitbull
by ThaliaGrace318
Summary: A murderer sent to the ground unintentionally befriends a little girl. (Just a little something to make a disliked character more likable)
1. Thanks

Dax was a tall, slimly built 17-year-old, who had been confined for beating a man to death for stealing from him. He was also one of the guys who had removed his wristband early in the day. Dax found a place near the edge of camp to sleep for the night, under a tree that gave some shelter from the cold wind that had picked up, and settled down with one of the blankets from the drop ship that he'd wrestled from some other kid, practically knocking the kid's tooth out.

Dax looked up when he heard someone coming, thinking it might be one of the people he'd roughed up come looking for payback, but it was only that little girl with the blond ponytail. Earlier in the day he'd seen some guys giving her a hard time, trying to make her take off her wristband. She had shouted at them to stop and leave her alone, but they ignored her. Dax had walked up and punched one of them in the face. That guy went down with a bloody nose and the others backed off.

The little girl had been following him around since then, and now she came and lay down beside him, clutching her stuffed toy that looked like it was supposed to be a turtle. He considered pushing her away, telling her to go bug someone else.

"Thanks for helping me," her small voice said. It was the first thing she'd said to him all day.

"Whatever kid," said Dax, laying his head back again.

"My name's Bo," she said.

"Just go to sleep," Dax grumbled. Bo didn't say anything else. A little while later Dax looked down at her and saw that she was shivering. The kid looked too small and frail to stand up to the cold wind that was blowing. He sighed, and spread the blanket over her; she curled closer to him. Bo Adams, 10 years old, was the youngest one here, and lying next to Dax Stanton she looked like a kitten curled up next to a pit-bull.

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Author's note: Please leave a comment if you want more about these characters.


	2. Warmth

Dax sat at one of the spots close to the fire. He'd muscled his way to the front of the line for food and now sat eating the roasted pieces of meat, thinking that it was way better than nutrition packs. Some people had gotten into scuffles over food, but he didn't think that anyone would be stupid enough to try to take his. He was on alert just in case; he looked around when he heard someone come up behind him. He sighed when that kid sat down at the edge of the firelight. What was her name, Boo? No, Bo.

It was cold out, like last night, but she didn't come closer to the fire. Again, she'd been following him around most of the day. She hadn't gotten underfoot, but every time he turned around she was there. He tried to ignore her like he'd been doing all day, but he could still see her out of the corner of his eye. And he heard when her stomach growled.

Bellamy had put himself in charge down here and was only giving food to the people who took off their wristbands. Dax didn't really care either way, but it looked like the kid did – she still had her wristband and didn't have any food. From what Dax had seen of her, she was probably too scared to try getting the food.

Bo sat at the edge of the firelight and pulled her jacket tighter around her. She was a little cold but didn't want to get any closer – older kids had taken all of the spaces by the fire. They were all bigger than her…everyone was bigger than her. She didn't want to draw attention to herself; a lot of the people down here were not nice. Dax had helped her yesterday, but he wasn't very nice either so she tried to stay out of his way. She still stayed close though, it was safer than being on her own.

Bo's stomach growled again, and she drew her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs trying to make herself smaller.

Dax rolled his eyes. He'd seen this kind of thing before. His mom worked in the care center on the Ark as a care giver to the orphans, and he'd been forced to help her out sometimes. He'd seen little kids who were bullied into giving up their rations and were too scared to do anything about it, so they went hungry. But those kids were not his problem and neither was this one.

He glanced over at Bo again, bundled up in her jacket and curled in on herself – a kitten curled into a tiny ball. Dax groaned, and then he tore off a chunk of meat and held it out to Bo. She crept forward hesitantly to sit next to him, not sure that it wasn't a trick. When he didn't take the food back she happily took it and smiled at him before stuffing most of it into her mouth in her hurry to eat.

"Don't forget to chew," Dax said watching her.

Bo giggled and slowed down, taking the time to enjoy her first meal on Earth next to the warmth of the camp fire with her new friend.


	3. Nightmare

It was the end of Day 4 on the ground and people were settling down for the night…but it wouldn't be a peaceful one. Dax leaned back against one of the logs by the fire. He could have taken a spot in one of the tents, but he preferred to sleep outside. It was way less confined. It was definitely better than taking one of the hammocks in the drop ship where he would have to listen to the dying boy moaning all night. Even from out here he could hear it and it was getting on his nerves, keeping everybody on edge and making it hard for people to sleep.

Another loud groan came from the drop ship. If the sound of Jasper dying wasn't enough to keep him awake the people complaining about it was.

"Would that kid just die already!" someone shouted.

The little girl wasn't sleeping well either. She'd curled up next to him, like she'd done for the past three nights, but tonight she kept turning over every few minutes. A small whimper escaped her. Dax looked down at Bo. She was twitching in her sleep, and her feet were moving like she was trying to run away from something. Dax didn't know what was more annoying right now, Jasper dying, or the little kid having bad dreams. When one of her kicks hit his side he'd had enough of it.

"Come on, knock it off kid," Dax said irritably, nudging her awake.

Bo stilled. Dax sighed and closed his eyes again. The peace was short lived.

"Is Jasper going to die?" Bo piped up. Dax looked at her and saw that she was sitting up with her arms wrapped around her legs.

"I don't know," said Dax.

"Clarke will make him better right?"

"I don't know." Dax repeated getting more and more irritated.

Bo was quiet for all of thirty seconds before, "Do you think the grounders will come here?"

"Anyone ever tell you that you talk too much kid?" he barked.

A few days ago Bo might have cringed back and then kept her mouth shut. But she was already scared of the people outside the camp, the grounders that tried to kill Jasper. She didn't want to be scared of the people inside the camp too, not anymore.

"My name's Bo, not kid," Bo snapped back, "And I talk a lot because you don't talk at all!"

Dax sat up and glared at her. He liked it better when she didn't talk. This kid shouldn't be his problem at all, he didn't ask for her to keep following him around. But looking at her…she was just a little girl – next to him she was tiny, really – and she was alone, she didn't seem to know anyone here. And right now, even though the small hands resting on her knees where clenched and shaking slightly, she was glaring right back at him. She was scared, but she was trying to be brave. Fine, if the kid thought standing up to him made her braver, he'd let her have this one.

He slumped back down saying, "Jasper's gonna be fine kid…Bo. The doc's taking care of him, she'll fix him."

"Promise?" Bo asked hesitantly.

"Yeah, promise," Dax said carelessly as he put his hands behind his head. He didn't miss the new hopeful look in her eyes or the small smile she gave him – The kid believed him.

"Ok then," said Bo. She did feel a bit better now – the way she saw it, Dax didn't care enough to lie just to make her feel better, so he must be telling the truth. She lay back down again with her stuffed toy in her arms.

Dax thought that was the end of it, until he was woken up some time later when Bo started whimpering and fidgeting again. The fire had died down so he knew that he'd been asleep for an hour, maybe more. He looked at her, curious; if she wasn't worried about the dying kid anymore then what was she having nightmares for?

He lifted her up gently – she hardly weighed anything – and put her down on his other side so that he was between her and the fire. Just in case her tossing and turning again made her do something stupid like roll into the fire. She didn't wake up, but her hand started to reach for something that wasn't there. Dax looked around and saw the toy that had slipped out of her hands. He picked it up and put it under her chin; she clutched it in her sleep and a smile spread over her face.

Dax sighed. At least her bad dreams were gone for now, so maybe he could finally get some sleep.

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Author's note: Seems like Dax is growing closer to Bo and starting to care about her (even if he doesn't want to)

Please comment if you want me to continue. Reviews are always encouraging


	4. Run!

**Author's Note:** I am very sorry that it has taken me so long to update this and all my other storied. I have been very busy with my summer internship. But I hope you like it. Please leave me a comment to let me know what you think as well as any thought you have that I should write about.

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Dax stood knee deep in the stream with a spear in his hands watching the water closely for passing fish. He was with a group out to try fishing since they'd finished all the meat in camp.

As a flash of silver swam by his leg he struck with the spear, skewering it. The fish wiggled feebly as he pulled it out of the water. He pulled it off the end of his spear and tossed it to shore where the little girl Bo snatched it up before it could slip back into the water and put it in a bucket.

"Ha! I got one!" Del, one of the other guys in the water exclaimed, holding his spear up triumphantly. He pulled the fish off of it and threw it to shore too hard. It hit the girl who was waiting to catch it in the chest. Fox gave a girly shriek and batted it away, hopping form foot to foot. It hit the ground and slid back into the river.

"You just lost lunch!" Del said angrily. "What gives?"

"Uh, it's slimy!" Fox exclaimed in disgust.

"Do you want to eat or not?" Del demanded irritably.

Dax rolled his eyes. Bo was only ten, and she acted more grown up than them. She might talk a little too much sometimes, but she never complained, about anything. The kid did seem like she was a tougher than she looked; if she was hungry, tired, cold, or scared, she kept it to herself.

Dax looked to the shore again and stopped. Bo wasn't in her spot. Glancing up and down the riverside he saw that she wasn't anywhere in sight.

"Hey, where's the kid?" he called out to the others who were fishing. The others near the stream shrugged or shook their heads. None of them had seen Bo leave.

Dax groaned; the kid should know better than to wander off alone. He walked out of the stream to find her himself. He didn't have to go far. Dax found Bo next to some bramble bushes. Her pack was on the ground next to her, that stuffed toy turtle that she carried around was peeking out of the zip. It looked like she'd been picking barriers from the bush and putting them in her pack, and somehow had gotten her ponytail caught in the thorns.

Dax laughed as she struggled to pull it loose. Bo glared at him.

"It's not funny!" she snapped – a little kitten flashing her claws. "Help me."

"That's what you get going off on your own kid." Still chuckling, Dax pulled out his knife and cut the branch of the bush that Bo's hair was caught in. Once it was loose it was easier to pull her hair free of it. "How'd you get stuck here anyway?" he asked.

Bo looked at him, and then looked past him.

"What's that?" she asked, pointing at something behind Dax. He turned around and looked up to see what looked like a giant yellow cloud moving over the trees. And it was coming towards them.

"What the hell..?" Dax started to say.

"That looks bad," Bo said backing away.

Suddenly Fox, Del and the others who'd been at the stream came running through the trees like they were being chased by the hounds of hell. They were shouting, "Run! Run!"

Bo started to run, but then remembered that she left her pack on the ground. She started to turn back for it, but Dax grabbed her arm.

"Leave it!" Dax shouted at her.

"I need it!" she said.

Dax didn't hear it; he grabbed Bo, taking her right off her feet and kept on running. Looking behind him Bo saw the yellow haze catching up to them fast. Her small hands clutched his arm, and she held on for dear life as he ran, hoping that he wouldn't drop her.

The yellow cloud was almost on them when they reached some caves that thankfully were not too far. They were all coughing with their eyes watering from the noxious gas that had nearly overtaken them.

Once inside, Dax dropped Bo onto the floor of the cave, not bothering to be gentle. As Bo got to her feet he yelled at her, "What the hell is wrong with you?!" She flinched back and started to turn away from him but he grabbed her arm. "You could have gotten yourself killed!"

Bo glared at him; now she was angry too. And after spending so much time around Dax since Arrival Day, she'd learned by now how to shout back. "That hurts!"

Dax was surprised enough that his grip on her arm loosened enough for her to pull away. Bo moved away from him quickly and stalked over to a corner of the cave where she sat with her back against the wall and her arms wrapped around her knees.

She didn't say anything else; neither did Dax.

And the others all had the good sense to stay out of it.

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Bo woke up in the middle of the night feeling not right. Her stomach was hurting, and she was shivering – which was strange because the cave actually wasn't that cold. She usually slept curled up next to Dax. Is that why she felt so cold now? But if it was so cold…why was she sweating?

Bo felt more shivers go through her, except they felt more like tremors, and her stomach still hurt. She wrapped her arms around herself trying to make it go away. She thought that maybe she should tell the others that something was wrong, that she felt sick, but her mind drifted again before she could call out to anyone…

X

Dax couldn't sleep. Somebody was snoring and the sound echoed in the cave. He sat up and pulled a flashlight form his bag to find which one of the others was snoring and tell them that he would throw them into the fog if they kept him awake.

But when he turned on the light, his eyes went to Bo, still in the corner by herself. It looked like she was curled in on herself even more than usual with her arms wrapped around her sides. If the kid wanted to pout all night, fine. Not his problem. Except…she looked like she was shivering. Was she cold? Dax shook his head, shrugging off his unwanted concern.

Whatever was wrong, the kid wasn't complaining about it. She never did.

* * *

"Alright, it's clear," said Del form the mouth of the cave. It was morning and he and Fox had played rock, paper scissors to see who would go out and check that the freaky burning fog was gone. (Del lost, demanded to play two out of three, and then Dax threatened to hit him with a rock if he didn't do it.)

With some grumbling about what a pain it was to sleep on a cave floor, everyone picked up their things to leave. Everyone except Bo – she was still curled up in her corner.

"Hey kid, come on, time to go," Dax called to her. Bo didn't stir. "You still pouting?" Dax said walking over to her. She didn't answer. He reached for her shoulder and turned her over, but Bo still didn't respond. Her eyes were closed, and now he was starting to worry when he saw that she was breathing strange, taking shallow gasping breaths.

"Kid?" Dax said shaking her. "Bo!" But Bo didn't wake up. And he suddenly realized that her skin felt hot, a lot hotter than it should be. "Hey," Dax called to the others in the cave, "Hey, I need some help over here."

"What's wrong with her?" one of the others asked.

"She's sick or something," someone answered. Dax barely hear them as he scooped Bo up into his arms.

"We should get her back to Clarke," said Fox.

But Dax was already headed out of the cave, and then he was running back towards camp. He didn't stop to wait for the others; he just ran, all the while listening to Bo's shallow breathing which was the only thing that showed that the little girl who kept following him around was still alive…

**TO BE CONTINUED****…**


	5. Wake

**Author's note: **My most sincere apologies for the extremely long wait for the new chapter of this story. I hope you enjoy it and please review. reviews encourage updates.

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"What's going on?"

"It's Bo. She's sick."

"What's wrong with her?"

Questions and murmurs of concerns were passed around by those pressing in to see what was happening. Bo heard none of it. She lay sweating and struggling to breath on the cot that had been set up for her in the drop ship as Clarke examined her.

"Is she gonna be okay?"

"Is it contagious?"

Clarke ignored the people talking around her as she tried to figure out what could be wrong with Bo. She hoped it wasn't something contagious. She'd been afraid of something like this happening since Arrival Day. They were all being exposed to germs that their bodies had never encountered before, and all of them living so close together like this, it would be easy for sickness to spread.

"Is it radiation?"

That question set off a whole new round of worried chatter and some people backed away warily. On one hand, if there were toxic levels of radiation on Earth, the grounders would be dead. On the other hand, the grounders could have evolved to be immune to it. Bo's symptoms might be how early radiation exposure would present.

"Clarke," Bellamy pulled her away from the debate so the others wouldn't hear, "Could this be radiation?"

"I don't know," Clarke said uncertainly. She managed to inject more certainty into her voice as she continued, "I don't think so. But we should keep her quarantined, in case it's contagious."

Bellamy took her at her word – she was the only medic they had. He shouted to the others to clear out of the ship and get back to their work. They all shuffled out, all except for one. Dax was sitting next to Bo's cot watching her. He hadn't left the kid's side since he came running into camp with her in his arms barely breathing.

"Dax, you should go too," said Clarke. He ignored her. "Dax-"

"Let him stay," said Bellamy. Clarke opened her moth to tell him again that they couldn't risk sickness spreading, but he cut her off, "Look at him."

Dax was looking at Bo like he could will her to wake up and be alright just by staring. Bellamy knew that look; it was the same way he'd looked at Octavia when his little sister had gotten sick when she was small and he could do nothing but watch and pray that she'd get better.

"Trust me Clarke, he's not going anywhere," said Bellamy.

Dax watched Bo, her thin chest rising and falling with shallow breaths. He was glad when everyone else finally shut up and cleared out. He didn't care about them.

He wished he didn't care about the little girl. She shouldn't be his problem. Hell, a week ago he didn't even know her. But she'd wormed her way under his skin, sticking close to him since Arrival Day, and now he couldn't shake it, the feeling that he was supposed to watch her.

There was a bruise on Bo's arm where he'd grabbed her the day before; when the acid fog came rolling in and she'd tried to go back for her pack… He'd grabbed her arm and yelled at her for doing something so stupid. The sight of the bruise made Dax cringed – he hadn't meant to grab her that hard. The mark looked ugly on her pale skin. She was so tiny – he'd thought that before, how small she was. For such a little kid she was tough though, the way she never complained about anything. But right now she just looked downright breakable.

And now Dax was mad at those idiots who put a helpless little kid like her on the drop ship along with the rest of them. What were they thinking? She should be home with the people whose job it was to look after her. Dax never asked for it, and he didn't know when it happened, but somewhere along the way Bo had decided to trust him to look out for her. But he hadn't last night.

Bo got sick sometime in the middle of the night and he didn't notice. He might have noticed if she'd been right beside him like she usually was. But she'd been sleeping all alone in the corner of a cave because he'd yelled at her. He yelled at her…and then she got sick. Now he needed her to wake up. She had to wake up…

XXXXX

In the morning, Bo woke up. But only for a few minutes, and she didn't seem to know what was happening. She was still feverish and couldn't keep any food down; she got sick when they tried to get her to eat. And then she faded back into a restless sleep.

If that wasn't enough to have people worried, later in the day, two other people fell ill. Fox was carried into the drop ship sweating and shaking, and later Del staggered in after throwing up his lunch. There were set up on cots inside the ship along with Bo. Clarke examined them and it looked like whatever Bo had, they had it too, though Clarke still didn't know what is was or what caused it.

Dax didn't care about Del or Fox being sick; he didn't care about the cause, just the cure. He just wanted Bo to wake up and be okay. And he didn't even know why he wanted it so badly. Why did this kid matter so much? She was annoying. She never shut up…Her annoying questions about everything, irritating chatter about whatever popped into her head, and those stupid little songs she liked to sing while she was working. Even when he told her to shut up she'd start humming again a minute later. Once she got over being shy, the only time Bo was completely quiet was when she was asleep.

Unless she had nightmares.

Dax had dozed off leaning against the wall, but he started awake when he heard a familiar sound. Bo was whimpering in her sleep – she did that when she had her bad dreams.

Bo's eyes fluttered open. Dax whispered, crouching next to her cot. "Hey kid, how you feeling?"

Bo didn't answer. Her eyes didn't focus on him. Her lips moved like she was saying something and Dax leaned in close to hear. "Where…where'd you go?" she muttered indistinctly. But she wasn't awake, not really.

"Bo?" said Dax. But her eyes drifted shut again, and her hands started reaching for something that wasn't there.

Dax had seen that before; she did that when she wanted that stuffed toy she carried around. It wasn't here though. It was in her pack that got left by the stream when they'd had to run from the acid fog.

With a sigh, Dax pulled her blanket up over her thin shoulders, and then tucked a strand of sweat-dampened hair behind her ear.

"I'll be back soon," he said quietly.

He got up…but he didn't want to leave Bo alone in case something happened to her and she got worse. He spotted a guy, Myles, bringing in fresh supplies to store in the ship.

"Hey," Dax grabbed him by the front of his shirt and practically growled, "Watch her!"

Myles nodded looking slightly scared, and Dax marched out of the ship.

XXXXX

It was evening when Dax came back into the drop ship carrying Bo's pack. The pack had been right where Bo had left it, under the berry bush with the thorns that she'd gotten her ponytail stuck in.

Myles, who'd been watching over Bo while Dax was gone, got up as soon as he saw Dax and scurried out of his way. Dax ignored him and sat down heavily on the floor next to her cot. He pulled Bo's toy out and tossed the pack aside.

Bo was tossed and turned restlessly on her cot. She'd been drifting in and out of consciousness all day. "Hey," Dax shook her shoulder. "Come on kid."

Bo mumbled something in her sleep but didn't wake up. He set the toy next to her searching hands and she grabbed onto it, pulling it her chest and curling her body protectively around it. She stopped whimpering – whatever memory came with that stupid toy chased away her nightmares.

"Dax, is this Bo's bag?" Clarke asked behind him.

Dax just shrugged, not wanting to explain that he'd gone back to the river to get it just because he knew that the little girl slept better when she had that dumb toy of hers.

Clarke was digging in the pockets of Bo's pack. A few red berries had rolled out of it when he'd tossed it aside. "What kind of berries are these?"

"How the hell should I know?" Dax snapped.

"I think Bo ate them and they might be poisonous," said Clarke.

That got Dax's attention. He looked up at Clarke, "That's what's making her sick?"

"Fox and Del were out with you by the stream yesterday weren't they?" Clarke asked. "Maybe they ate some too."

Giving someone the wrong remedy for a toxin could be just as poisonous. But now that they knew what the toxin was, they could find the right remedy to treat it.

XXXXX

Clarke moved away from Bo after making her drink some bad smelling tea with some medicinal plant in it and moved on to her other patients. Fox was moaning on her bed, and Del was complaining loudly (louder than anyone who was sick should be).

Bo turned over and opened her eyes to see Dax sitting on the floor next to her cot.

"You okay?" he asked.

"My tummy hurts," she said.

"That's because you ate something you shouldn't have."

Bo squeezed her stuffed toy turtle. The thing was worn and frayed, but Bo felt better having it. "Stanley came back."

"Stanley? That's a stupid name," Dax teased her.

"So is yours," she teased back and laughed.

Dax smiled. Dax wasn't actually his real name; it was what his initials spelt – Darrius Arthur Xzavier. Only his mom called him by his real name.

Bo's little face turned more serious. "My mommy made Stanley for me. She named him."

Dax frowned at the sad look on Bo's face. He didn't like it. He'd thought before that watching out for this kid shouldn't be his job; that she should be back with her family on the Ark. But maybe she didn't have anyone back on the Ark. He'd never asked. But now he got the feeling that whatever her bad dream was that had her whimpering and reaching out in her sleep, her mom was in it…and not in a good way.

He reached out and took her hand. Bo squeezed it.


End file.
